Device that reads data encoded as dots

ABSTRACT

A system is disclosed for reading data encoded as a series of invisible dots carried on a substrate. The system has a detector that detects the dots on the substrate and outputs a first signal; a decoder interconnected to the detector that decodes the first signal to produce an output signal; and an output device interconnected to the processor that receives the output signal and creates a corresponding human readable output. The dots may be infrared absorbing and the encoding can include Reed-Solomon encoding of the prerecorded audio. The system can include a wand-like arm having a slot through which the photograph is inserted.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a user interface system forrecovering digital data printed in infra-red ink in a fault tolerantencoded form on a print media using an inkjet printing system. Inparticular, the data may be encoded on the same surface as a humanreadable representation, for example an image which is related to thedata which is encoded thereon.

CO-PENDING APPLICATIONS

[0002] Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the presentinvention are disclosed in the following co-pending applications filedby the applicant or assignee of the present invention simultaneouslywith the present application:

[0003] U.S. patent application Ser. No.

[0004] Ser. No. 09/693,471

[0005] Ser. No. 09/693,083

[0006] Ser. No. 09/693,134

[0007] Ser. No. 09/693,078

[0008] Ser. No. 09/693,317

[0009] The disclosures of these co-pending applications are incorporatedherein by reference.

[0010] Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the presentinvention are disclosed in the following co-pending application filed bythe applicant or assignee of the present invention on Jul. 10, 1998:

[0011] U.S. Ser. No. 09/113,070

[0012] U.S. Ser. No. 09/112,785

[0013] The disclosures of this co-pending application are incorporatedherein by reference.

[0014] Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the presentinvention are disclosed in the following co-pending applications filedby the applicant or assignee of the present invention on Jun. 30, 2000:

[0015] U.S. Ser. No. 09/608,308,

[0016] U.S. Ser. No. 09/608,779,

[0017] U.S. Ser. No. 09/607,987,

[0018] U.S. Ser. No. 09/608,776,

[0019] U.S. Ser. No. 09/607,250,

[0020] U.S. Ser. No. 09/607,991,

[0021] The disclosures of these co-pending applications is incorporatedherein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0022] The applicant has disclosed in pending applications U.S. Ser. No.09/113,070 and U.S. Ser. No. 09/112,785 cards called Artcards in whichthe information is encoded in black ink on a white background on thereverse face of the printed card, the front surface of the card bearingan image. The data that may be recorded may be the contents of a bookrecorded in a digital manner with the front face bearing an imageequivalent to the dust jacket of the book.

[0023] In such prior art, two printheads are required in order tosimultaneously print the image on the front of the card and the digitaldata on the rear of the card. To read the card, the card is passedthrough an optical scanning means and the fault tolerant encoded data isreconstructed and decoded and provided to a user as an audio or visualoutput.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0024] The present invention provides a user interface for reading dataencoded in a fault tolerant form in infra-red ink on a surfacesimultaneously bearing an image.

[0025] It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatusfor reading data encoded in a fault tolerant digital form printed ininvisible ink on a surface of a card said surface bearing an imagecomprising:

[0026] a) scanning means for scanning said encoded fault tolerantdigital form of said data on said surface in the infra-red;

[0027] b) means for processing said scanned data and for decoding saiddata into a secondary digital format;

[0028] c) means for outputting said data in said secondary digitalformat to an output device with which said secondary digital format isusable;

[0029] d) said output device presenting said data in a human readableform.

[0030] Preferably the invisible ink may be an infra-red (IR) absorbingink with negligible absorption in the visible spectrum.

[0031] Preferably, the data is encoded on the card using a Reed-Solomonencoding process after compression of the data. This allows recovery ofthe data notwithstanding up to 30% damage to the print media upon whichthe data is recorded (image encoded form). The card for example may be astandard card as disclosed in co-pending applications lodged hereto U.S.Ser. No. 09/693,471, U.S. Ser. No. 09/693,083 and U.S. Ser. No.09/693,134 of the size of a photograph of approximately 4″×6″ (102mm×152 mm). It is also contemplated that other formats are also possiblefor the card for example of the same width but shorter or longerdepending upon the amount of data which is recorded or to be recorded onthe print media.

[0032] In another aspect, the invention provides a device for readingdata encoded as an array of dots carried on a substrate, the array beingsubstantially invisible to an average unaided human eye, the devicecomprising:

[0033] a detector that detects the array of dots and outputs a firstsignal representative thereof;

[0034] a decoder interconnected to said detector that receives anddecodes said first signal to produce a second signal corresponding tothe first signal; and

[0035] an output device interconnected to said decoder that receivessaid second signal and creates a human readable output corresponding tothe second signal.

[0036] The detector may detect the array of dots optically.

[0037] The dots may be dots of ink and the ink may be an infra-red (IR)absorbing ink with little absorption in the visible spectrum.

[0038] In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention,there is provided a method of creating a human readable output from anarray of dots carried by a substrate, the array encoding data and beingsubstantially invisible to an average unaided human eye, said methodcomprising the steps of:

[0039] (a) detecting the array on the substrate and outputting a firstsignal corresponding thereto;

[0040] (b) decoding said first signal and outputting a second signal

[0041] (c) receiving the second signal in an output device andgenerating a human readable output corresponding to the second signal.

[0042] The array of dots may be detected optically and may be detectedusing at least the infrared spectrum. The dots may be provided using aninfrared absorbing ink with little absorption in the visible spectrum.

[0043] The substrate may also carry an image, a substrate carrying animage and including an array being substantially identical, to anaverage unaided human eye, to the same substrate and image not includingan array.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0044] Notwithstanding any other form which may fall within the scale ofthe present invention, preferred forms of the invention will now bedescribed by way of example only with reference to the accompanyingdrawing of FIG. 1 which illustrates the card reading arrangement of thepreferred embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED AND OTHER EMBODIMENTS

[0045] The preferred embodiment is preferably implemented throughsuitable programming of a hand held device such as that described in theapplicant's applications U.S. Ser. No. 09/693,471, U.S. Ser. No.09/693,083 and U.S. Ser. No. 09/693,134 filed concurrently herewith bythe present applicant the content of which is hereby specificallyincorporated by reference. These applications make reference to theapplicant's prior applications U.S. Ser. No. 09/113,070 and U.S. Ser.No. 09/112,785.

[0046] The aforementioned patent specifications disclose an apparatusincluding a camera system, hereinafter known as an “Artcam” type camerasystem, wherein sensed images can be directly printed out by the cameraunit using an inkjet pagewidth printhead having at least four separateinkjet nozzles for printing a color image and an infra-red imagesimultaneously on a print media. A pagewidth printhead of this type wasdescribed by the applicant in co-pending applications U.S. Ser. No.09/608,308, U.S. Ser. No. 09/608,779, U.S. Ser. No. 09/607,987, U.S.Ser. No. 09/608,776, U.S. Ser. No. 09/607,250, and U.S. Ser. No.09/607,991 and the descriptions thereof are hereby specificallyincorporated by reference.

[0047] In the above referenced patent specifications, namely U.S. Ser.No. 09/693,471, U.S. Ser. No. 09/693,083 and U.S. Ser. No. 09/693,134,data in a fault tolerant encoded form is printed in infrared ink over acolor image. The data which was described in each of thesespecifications related respectively to storing a fault tolerant encodeddigital form of the image itself, a fault tolerant encoded digital formof the image itself along with an image processing program script whichenabled the image to be processed to produce a given effect thereon, anda copy of the image itself and of a transformed copy of that image, thetransformation being achieved by a program which could be separatelyloaded into the camera system.

[0048] In the present application, the invention resides in recordingdigital data on an image, the digital data relating to other than theimage itself or any manipulation thereof. For example, as described inthe applicant's prior art of U.S. Ser. No. 09/113,070 a card may beprinted using a fault tolerant digitally encoded form comprising a bookon one surface of a print media while on the other face of the printmedia an image is recorded, for example in this case the dust jacket ofthe book. The cards that were described were of the size of a creditcard of approximately 85 mm×55 mm size. The card was printed on bothfaces. In the present invention the card needs only to be printed on oneface with the data being recorded in infra red ink and thus invisible toa human reader. As described in the applicant's co-pending applicationsU.S. Ser. No. 09/693,471, U.S. Ser. No. 09/693,083 and U.S. Ser. No.09/693,134, a card of approximate size 4″×6″ (102 mm×152 mm) can containapproximately 3-4 megabytes of data depending on how the data is encodedand distributed across the surface of the card. The data in thoseapplications is distributed in such a way that full recovery of the datathere encoded, namely an image, can be recovered even if up to 30%damage has occurred to the surface of the card. To store an average pageof text requires approximately 2 Kbytes of digital data for text only,hence 3 megabytes of data would record approximately 1.5 thousand pagesof written text. An average book contains between 250-550 pages and sucha book is readily accommodated by the format of the present disclosure.In addition, images may be interspersed with the text as thumbnail(reduced sized) images in a suitable file format for example jpeg, gif,tiff, bmp to name a few.

[0049] The preferred embodiment provides an adaptation of the particulartechnology as disclosed in the aforementioned patent specifications U.S.Ser. No. 09/693,471, U.S. Ser. No. 09/693,083 and U.S. Ser. No.09/693,134. In this adaptation, the camera system and the printingsystem is dispensed with and replaced with a large screen reader. Thecards according to the preferred embodiment are then provided having anindicator of the information which is recorded on the card. Theinformation in a fault tolerant encoded form is printed in infrared inkover that indicator. For example the card could include a book's contentor a newspaper content. An example of such a system is as illustrated inFIG. 1 wherein the card 10 includes a book title on the card with dataprinted thereon in infra-red ink as shown by arrow 11. The card 10 isinserted in the reader 12 which includes a flexible display 13 whichallows for the folding up of the card reader 12. The card readerincludes display controls 14 which allow for paging forward and back andother controls of the card reader 12.

[0050] It can therefore be seen that the arrangement of FIG. 1 providesfor an efficient distribution of information in the form of books,newspapers, magazines, technical manuals, and so forth.

[0051] Various inkjet technologies can be used for printing of the cardaccording to the current disclosure, for example an inkjet pagewidthprinthead such as disclosed in the applicant's co-pending applicationsU.S. Ser. No. 09/608,308, U.S. Ser. No. 09/608,779, U.S. Ser. No.09/607,987, U.S. Ser. No. 09/608,776, U.S. Ser. No. 09/607,250, and U.S.Ser. No. 09/607,991 may be used. Suitable infra-red ink is disclosed inthe applicant's co-pending applications, Australian provisional patentapplications PQ9412 and PQ9376 filed on Aug. 14, 2000 and applicant'sapplications PQ9509 filed on Aug. 18, 2000, and PQ9571, and PQ9561 filedon Aug. 21, 2000. Data may be encoded in a manner or using a format asdisclosed in applicant's U.S. Ser. No. 09/113,070 and U.S. Ser. No.09/112,785, or U.S. Ser. No. 09/693,471, U.S. Ser. No. 09/693,083 andU.S. Ser. No. 09/693,134, for example the Artcard format or thealternative Artcard format. Other formats may be used.

[0052] It would be appreciated by a person skilled in the art thatnumerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the presentinvention as shown in the specific embodiment without departing from thespirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The presentinvention is, therefore, to be considered in all respects to beillustrative and not restrictive.

1. A device for reading data encoded as an array of dots carried on asubstrate, the array being substantially invisible to an average unaidedhuman eye, the device comprising: a detector that detects the array ofdots and outputs a first signal representative thereof; a decoderinterconnected to said detector that receives and decodes said firstsignal to produce a second signal corresponding to the first signal; andan output device interconnected to said decoder that receives saidsecond signal and creates a human readable output corresponding to thesecond signal.
 2. The device of claim 1 wherein detector detects thearray of dots optically.
 3. The device of claim 1 wherein the dots aredots of ink.
 4. The device of claim 3 wherein the ink is infraredabsorbing ink with little absorption in the visible spectrum.
 5. Thedevice of claim 1 wherein said data is encoded using Reed-Solomonencoding.
 6. The device of claim 1 including a slot through which saidsubstrate is inserted.
 7. The device of claim 1 wherein the outputdevice is a display.
 8. A method of creating a human readable outputfrom an array of dots carried by a substrate, the array encoding dataand being substantially invisible to an average unaided human eye, saidmethod comprising the steps of: (d) detecting the array on the substrateand outputting a first signal corresponding thereto; (e) decoding saidfirst signal and outputting a second signal (f) receiving the secondsignal in an output device and generating a human readable outputcorresponding to the second signal.
 9. The method of claim 8 includingdetecting the array of dots optically.
 10. The method of claim 8including detecting the dots using at least the infrared spectrum. 11.The method of claim 8 including providing the dots using an infraredabsorbing ink with little absorption in the visible spectrum.
 12. Amethod as claimed in claim 8 wherein said data is Reed-Solomon encodedprior to creation of the array of dots.
 13. The device of claim 1wherein the substrate also carries an image and wherein a substratecarrying an image and including an array being substantially identical,to an average unaided human eye, to the same substrate and image notincluding an array,
 14. The method of claim 14 wherein the substratealso carries an image and wherein a substrate carrying an image andincluding an array being substantially identical, to an average unaidedhuman eye, to the same substrate and image not including an array,